Method and means for unloading articles from a conveyor

ABSTRACT

Means for unloading articles from a grid-type conveyor unit comprising a rotary brush mounted for free-wheeling rotation about an axis lying transverse to the longitudinal movement of the conveyor and being positioned on the conveyor unit below its grid and intermediate its ends, the rotary brush serving to push the products off the grid-type conveyor unit as its bristles project therethrough.

United States Patent Martin [4 1 June 13, 1972 [54] METHOD AND MEANS FORUNLOADING ARTICLES FROM A CONVEYOR [72] Inventor: Walter Harper Martin,San Antonio, Tex.

[73] Assignee: Refrigeration Engineering Corporation,

San Antonio, Tex.

22 Filed: Jan. 13,1971

21 App1.No.: 106,173

[52] US. Cl ..198/25, 198/185 [51] Int. Cl ..B65g 47/00, 865g 15/00 [58]Field ofSearch ..l98/33 AA,25,230,2 29, 103,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,550,365 8/1925 Jones..198/229 Nelson....

Guba 198/194 Primary Examiner-Richard E. Aegerter Attorney-Watson, Cole,Grindle & Watson [5 7] ABSTRACT Means for unloading articles from agrid-type conveyor unit comprising a rotary brush mounted forfree-wheeling rotation about an axis lying transverse to thelongitudinal movement of the conveyor and being positioned on theconveyor unit below its grid and intermediate its ends, the rotary brushserving to push the products off the grid-type conveyor unit as itsbristles project therethrough.

5 Clairm, 4 Drawing Figures METHOD AND MEANS FOR UNLOADING ARTICLES FROM A CONVEYOR This invention relates generally to an article-conveyingapparatus and more particularly to a means for smoothly and effectivelyunloading articles from a conveyor.

In the product-conveying art wherein grid-like or wire screens are madeuse of for the transferring of products resting thereon from one stationto another, the difficulty in smoothly and effectively transferring theproducts from the grid has given rise to any number of designs. Amongthese include individual lifting means or simply a flat plate meanslocated at one end of a conveyor so as to effect a transfer therefrom onto either a worktable or another conveyor. Neither of these approacheshas proved altogether satisfactory since costly and space-consumingequipment is normally required to conveniently carry out such atransfer. Moreover, such lifting means heretofore devised must generallybe precisely synchronized with the location of each product on the gridand/or with the grid structure itself. For example, known lifting meansfor the purpose above stated has included the use of a series of spacedassembled disks designed to accommodate the grid bars, the disks beingeach provided with an aligned peripheral groove for the lifting ofproducts from a grid conveyor at the end of its run. However, therotation of such a disk assembly is needed to be perfectly synchronizedwith movement of the grid so that any interference with transverseportions of the grid structure is avoided. Also, another of such liftingmeans is designed for precise contact with each product carefully spacedon the conveyor so that one of a number of radially spaced lifting padsmay lift each product successively from the conveyor as the pads rotateabout a common axis. The drawbacks inherent with the use of such devicesare normally that some synchronization or indexing must always bemaintained between the lifting means and the conveyor belt from whichthe articles are to be unloaded or transferred. It is therefore aprincipal object of the present invention to provide a means forunloading or transferring such products which is simple, easy toinstall, economical and highly effective without the need for additionalor independently operating equipment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such an unloadingor transfer means for products from a conveyor which is freely rotatablysimply by means of the grid conveyor passing thereover.

A further object of this invention is to provide such a transfer meanswhich includes the use of a brush having a plurality of elongated,radially extending, stiff bristles, a portion of which simply projectthrough the bottom of the grid so as to thereby lift the productstherefrom for unloading or for transferring them to another station.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a transfermeans wherein the brush is disposed intermediate ends of the grid-likeconveyor unit so as to avoid any undue wear or crushing of the bristlesas the grid passes thereover.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide such atransfer means wherein the articles are transferred to a rollerconveyor.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description of the inventionwhen considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational side view showing a portion of the conveyingapparatus according to the present invention with its inventive transferand unloading means;

FIG. 2 is a perspective showing of the grid conveyor in relation to therotary transfer brush in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial elevational side view showing the manner in whichthe rid conveyor is arranged for movement in a tube shown partly brokenaway; and

FIG. 4 is a transverse elevational view of the grid conveyor takensubstantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

Turning now to the drawings wherein like reference characters refer tolike and corresponding parts throughout the several views, there isshown in FIG. 1 a side elevational view of a grid-like conveyor unit 10and a roller conveyor unit 11 for the conveying of articles A on to aconventional band conveyor unit 12. It should be noted that thegrid-like conveyor 10 is only partially shown for the sake of clarity,the opposite end thereof which is not depicted being substantially thesame as that which is shown.

Conveyor unit 10 comprises substantially a number of chain links 13interconnected by means of conveyor supports 14 (seen clearly in FIG.3), near the bottoms of each being provided with a pair of rollers 15,as seen most clearly in FIG. 4 of the drawings. These rollers aremounted in any conventional manner for movement about an axis transverseto the direction 16 of conveyor 10 travel. Also, a roller 17 is mountedbetween a pair of links 13 for movement about a vertical axis and,together with the rollers 15, are disposed within an elongated tube 18having a longitudinal slot 19 therein thereby permitting the topportions of each grid support 14 to project outwardly thereof. As seenin FIG. 4, the tube 18 is disposed substantially along the center lineof the conveyor unit 10, the grid portion of which being secured to thetops of supports 14 by means of T-bar sections 21. One of such T-bars isprovide for each of the grid supports and a substantially close-loopedtransverse grid rod 22 is suitably secured, as by welding, to the baseof each T-bar section. Also, a substantially sinuous or zig-zag shapedgrid bar 23 is conveniently secured, as by welding, outwardly along thelength of each transverse rod 22 so that, together, the zig-zag bars 23provide a continuous grid or screen, shown in FIG. 2, for supporting aplurality of articles A.

In order to stabilize each grid section 22,23 throughout their movementduring transfer, an elongated bar 24, shown L-shaped in cross section,is disposed parallel to tube 18 along opposite sides thereof at asufficient distance near the side of the grid.

Each of these bars is conveniently mounted by means of a threaded studmember 25 secured to support 26 of the conveyor disposed parallel togrid rods 22 inwardly thereof. The outer portion of each bar 24 isprovided with a pad 27 of felt or similar material so as to take up thefrictional wear between the grid sections and the L-shaped bars.

The combined chain links and supports 14 form an endless conveyor whichis entrained about a pair of rollers 28 each mounted for rotation in aconvenient manner about an axle 29 disposed substantially parallel tothe rods 22. It should be understood that a like pair of rollers 28 arealso provided at the opposite end of the first conveyor which has notbeen shown for the sake of clarity.

Also, it should be pointed out that the upper and lower L- shaped rods24, as seen in FIG. 2, are respectively joined by means of curved rails31 in the vicinity of rollers 28 at opposite ends of the conveyor 10unit.

The grid means are moved in a direction as shown by arrow 16 by anyconventional motor means, not shown in the the drawings, so that thearticles A may be moved toward another conveyor 1 1 shown assubstantially comprising a conventional gravity roll conveyor having aplurality of parallel-related rollers 32.

The means for effecting a smooth and continuous unloading of theproducts A from conveyor 10 comprises a rotary brush 33 which is mountedfor rotation about an axle 34 parallel to axles 29. As can be seen, therotary brush is provided with a plurality of radially disposed bristlesof such a thickness depending on the type and size of article A to betransferred. It can be also seen that the rotary brush is mountedsufficiently near the grid sections 22,23 so that a portion of thebristles are made to project entirely therethrough, as seen in FIGS. 1and 2, from beneath the grid. Also, the rotary brush is mounted forrotation intermediate the ends of conveyor unit 10 so as to effectivelyavoid the problem of undue bristle wear which has been found to occurshould the rotary brush be disposed at the end of the grid conveyor.

In other words, if the rotary brush were located at such end it wouldundergo severe bristle crushing by the conveyor grid sections 22,23during their turning motion about the uppermost roller 28. Therefore,with the brush disposed in the vicinity of a substantially straight runof the grid sections, the bristles cleanly project upwardly therethroughso as not to be crushed during turning movement of the grid sections.

The rotary brush 33 is mounted for free-wheeling rotation about its axisso that no independent means is required for rotating thereof. Instead,the brush is rotated as the grid sections, 22,23 successively contactthe brush bristles in its movement from right to left, seen in FIG. 1.As the brush turns in a counterclockwise direction, shown by the curvedarrow, each of the articles A are successively lifted slightly ofi thegrid of conveyor unit and are thereafter transferred on to the rol' lers32 of the second conveyor 11 with continued rotation of the brush. Inthis way, no synchronization or indexing between either the brush andthe articles conveyed or between the brush and the grid structure ofconveyor 10 is required. The bristles of the brush may be of any naturalor synthetic composition and are sufficiently flexible so that they mayalways protrude through grids 22,23 and around tube 18 and the L- shapedbars 27. Each of the articles A will therefore be gently and easilytransferred from the first to the second conveyor as described above.

From the drawings it can also be seen that the ends of each adjacentzig-zag rod 23 slightly overlap during their movement along asubstantially straight plane so as to avoid any tendency for thearticles A to fall therethrough. Also, it should be noted that thesecond conveyor 11 is portably supported by means of a roller structure35 although some other arrangement is possible without departing fromthe spirit of the invention. For example, the conveyor unit 11 may bereplaced by a work table or other such means.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

l. In a conveyor unit having movable perforate grid means, a means forunloading articles from said conveyor unit which rest on said gridmeans, comprising a brush means for freely mounting said brush apredetermined distance below said grid means for free wheeling rotationabout an axis transverse to the direction of movement of said gridmeans, said brush having a plurality of bristles of a length greaterthan said predetermined distance so as to project upwardly through theperforations of said grid means whereby, upon rotation of said brushsolely by said grid means passing thereover and in contact with saidbristles, each of the articles lying on said grid means in the vicinityof said brush is pushed upwardly by said bristles projecting upwardlytherethrough and off said grid means to be thereby unloaded from saidconveyor unit.

2. In the conveyor unit according to claim 1 wherein said bristles aresubstantially stiff, elongated and radially extendmg.

3. In the conveyor unit according to claim 2 wherein said grid means aremounted for endless movement about roller means located at opposite endsthereof, said brush being located intermediate aid roller means.

4. In the conveyor unit according to claim 1 wherein said grid meanscomprise a plurality of grid sections each comprising a sinuous-type rodsecured along the length of a transverse rod.

5. In the conveyor unit according to claim 4 wherein the articles areunloaded on to another conveyor unit, one end of which is disposedadjacent said rotary brush.

1. In a conveyor unit having movable perforate grid means, a means forunloading articles from said conveyor unit which rest on said gridmeans, comprising a brush means for freely mounting said brush apredetermined distance below said grid means for free wheeling rotationabout an axis transverse to the direction of movement of said gridmeans, said brush having a plurality of bristles of a length greaterthan said predetermined distance so as to project upwardly throUgh theperforations of said grid means whereby, upon rotation of said brushsolely by said grid means passing thereover and in contact with saidbristles, each of the articles lying on said grid means in the vicinityof said brush is pushed upwardly by said bristles projecting upwardlytherethrough and off said grid means to be thereby unloaded from saidconveyor unit.
 2. In the conveyor unit according to claim 1 wherein saidbristles are substantially stiff, elongated and radially extending. 3.In the conveyor unit according to claim 2 wherein said grid means aremounted for endless movement about roller means located at opposite endsthereof, said brush being located intermediate aid roller means.
 4. Inthe conveyor unit according to claim 1 wherein said grid means comprisea plurality of grid sections each comprising a sinuous-type rod securedalong the length of a transverse rod.
 5. In the conveyor unit accordingto claim 4 wherein the articles are unloaded on to another conveyorunit, one end of which is disposed adjacent said rotary brush.